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Last year I leapt at the chance to deliver a weekend of workshops for the WriteMentor organisation. What particularly appealed to me was the aim of making opportunities in writing for children and young people accessible across the UK. As a lifelong Northerner, I get frustrated when most events are based in London. I understand the logistics which lie behind it but it does mean that many events are not accessible for those for whom travel to the capital is too expensive, time consuming or difficult. So I’m fully behind WriteMentor’s aim to deliver workshops across the UK and mine was in Sheffield last month. I loved every minute of it!

And now another opportunity has arisen – to be a mentor for a writer to offer feedback on their manuscript and to help them shape their work. Again, when I read about this, I knew I wanted to get involved. Through my MA, my involvement with SCBWI and years of reading and learning my craft, I hope I can offer guidance to someone, just as I’ve benefitted from the generosity of others to me along the way. Getting ahead in publishing can be a challenge and I wish this opportunity had been around for me a few years back.

So all the details of how to apply can be found by looking at @WriteMentor on Twitter or via the website https://write-mentor.com. What kind of writer am I looking to mentor? I’m fairly open to what I’m looking for – though I think my area of expertise is YA or upper MG. I love, love, love reading fantasy/reworking of fairy tales and what I’m always looking for is great character, dialogue and plot (yes worldbuilding is important but it’s the others that really make a work stand out for me) or I’d love to read a contemporary story with a unique voice. After that, I’d say I love historical writing. But if you feel I’d be a good fit for you, send away…

Currently I’m offering two passes on your work but the precise nature of how we’ll work together can be agreed at a later date.

A social media site I use brought up a photo from five years
ago this week. It was an image of my MA dissertation on the day that I handed
it in September 2014. The novel, then called ‘The Lives and Loves of Jesobel
Jones’, had in fact been started three years earlier. It began as a writing
exercise in the early weeks of my MA course in 2011. The central character,
then called Alyssa, began to speak to me and wouldn’t shut up. I embarked on
Nanowrimo just to find out what she had to say and for the first time in my
life, I managed to finish a project after a fashion.

Very little of that first draft remains in the finished
novel – I think the party chapters are the only parts that survived the
slashing, burning, re-writing and editing that took place over the next two
years. Alyssa became Jesobel and in time, one of my tutors suggested it was
time to send it out into the world and on the basis of it, I was offered
representation by the Anne Clark Literary Agency.

What followed was not uncommon in publishing. Despite lots
of attention and some near misses, Jesobel didn’t sell in the Uk. I moved onto
other projects and assumed that it had had its chance. But then two years
later, something rather special happened at the Bologna book fair. First there
were two offers of publication in France which lead to a very small bidding
war. Cue much celebration and jumping around. Secondly, then an offer of
publication in the US and Canada! Double and then triple the squealing and
general jollification. Jesobel – now named ‘Rebel with a Cupcake’ was going
international! It was now six years since I’d first started to write a 250 word
exercise I’d called ‘Rebel with a Crostini’…

In 2018, I received another exciting email. This time, the
publisher Firefly wanted to put out my next novel, ‘Tulip Taylor’. Again, a
cork popped and the bubbles were poured. I’d loved having ‘Rebel’ published
abroad but I did really want a UK deal…and here it was. Tulip has been out just
over two months and it’s been a blast – reading great reviews, going to YALC, doing my first school visits,
being asked to do an event at a library, seeing my book in shops and most
importantly, receiving feedback from face to face readers.

And then more good news – Firefly decided to publish ‘Rebel with a Cupcake’ – effectively as my back catalogue. It has a beautiful new cover from Niki Pilkington to match the cover for ‘Tulip Taylor’ and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy to add to the many manifestations of ‘Rebel with a Cupcake’.

What can be learned from this? If I wanted to shape a
narrative to fit the facts, the message might appear to be ‘never give up’ –
just keep on going and good things will happen. Yes, perhaps, but I do wonder
if that’s sometimes not the most helpful of messages. I don’t write every day.
Sometimes I need a break from writing. It’s hard to write if rejections get you
down or just seem too personal. ‘Never give up’ suggests that if it doesn’t
happen then it’s your fault in some way for not working or trying hard enough –
for just not wanting it badly. I don’t think that’s a fair or indeed a safe
message.

What I’ve learned is to keep writing because I love it. When
it’s just me, my imagination and a laptop, it makes me very happy. Feedback
from my SCBWI group keeps me on track, on my toes and energised. If you keep
writing because you love it, then perhaps at some point, someone else in
publishing will love your work too. And if that doesn’t happen, you’ll have
created something you’re proud of. Either way, the long game will pay off.

A month or two ago I was having a typically busy day. I’d been in school since 7.30, had marked, prepared, taught three lessons and was desperate for some food. Just as I headed to my lunch, my phone buzzed. It was Meg, the amazing publicist who works for Firefly. ‘Would you like to go to YALC and can you come up with a pitch for a workshop?’. (For those of you who don’t know what YACL is, it is the YA version of Comic con – set up by Malorie Blackman to celebrate YA books and YA writers.)The answer was ‘of course’ and ‘I’d love to but my brain is busy’. But during the time it took me to eat my marinated chicken and quinoa (this teacher does not skimp on quality at lunch time), I thought, ‘I know. How to write a feminist romantic comedy.’ I sent this a few minutes later to Meg.

A few weeks later, the follow up email came – ‘yes, you are going
to YALC and yes, you are doing a workshop. Oh, and by the way you’re on a panel
too.’ There may have been a small amount of whooping at this point. I’ve followed
YALC on Twitter for a few years now. It’s always looked brilliant but also seemed
to involve being hot, queuing and a fair bit of waiting around. As I struggle
with the last three, I’ve never quite got around to booking it but every year I’ve
always felt I was missing out on the book buzz. But now, I was finally going.

To say I was busy on the run-up to YALC would be an understatement.
My first UK novel was out, I was still teaching, tutoring, marking exam scripts
and trying to be a mother who at least pays attention to her children
occasionally. So, any preparation I did was very last minute. But I painted my
nails blue (to match Tulip’s on the cover), I wrote my workshop, I picked out
the lightest outfit I could (it was 39 degrees the day before), borrowed a huge
water bottle off my husband and bought a handheld fan. I was ready for
anything. Except possibly an unexpected Artic blast…

On the 7.20 from Manchester Piccadilly, the nerves had
kicked in. I’d woken up at 4 which wasn’t all bad as I had a lovely cup of tea
up sunrise in the garden with the birds. But once on the train, I couldn’t help
reflecting on what the very socially awkward thirteen-year-old Anna would have made
of this – the one who could only speak to about five people in the world. Over
the years, I’ve learned how to manage social situations to some degree and to
whom teaching is now a habit, but still going into unknown territories with
unknown people still makes me very, very anxious. But there was no going back,
the train arrived, me and my banner had to make the journey across London to YALC.

Finally, I arrived, hardly having time to take in the
amazing costumes at Comic con. I saw one Robin from the scoop troupe of
Stranger Things 3 which pleased me no end. As soon as I arrived at YALC, it
became very obvious what a special event it is and how lovely people who want
to celebrate books are. Everyone I met just seemed so enthusiastic and
supportive. It’s like walking into a bookish hug.

I found the Green Room (cold and with free crisps – in a
word, heaven). I found Kate Mallinder, teammate at Firefly and who was chairing
our panel. I had a few minutes to drink some water and then I headed off for my
workshop. I wasn’t sure what to expect, if anyone would turn up, what the
format would be like.

But I had an audience who were interested and appreciative.
I talked through the problems of rom-coms, we shared what we loved and hated, I
explained how to turn some of the toxic or problematic parts of rom-coms round
and in the q and a at the end, I learned a few things that I think will inform
what I’m writing at the moment. I was intensely nervous at the beginning, but
by the end I was enjoying myself!

In the down time between then and the panel, I had a quick
walk around and again was so impressed by what was on offer. There were freebies,
advance copies, opportunities to win early copies of all the most hotly anticipated
novels, paperbacks were £5 and hardbacks £10. I now understood why so many
people had suitcases – if you’re a seriously book buyer, you need something on
wheels to take your stash home.

Time for the panel – Kate had now rounded up me, Clare Rhys
and Daniel Freedman, ready for our talk. Again, it was an appreciative
audience. All my nerves had gone now so I was just enjoying myself. It was
great to hear about the others’ books – all were very different but it was fascinating
to hear about the covers and the inspiration behind what we wrote. The one key
message that come out for me was that if you want to succeed at writing, it
helps to be stubborn – to keep on going even if things don’t go your way.

We were due to sign next but I thought I’d visit the ladies
even though there was a bit of a queue. Then possibly the most surreal moment
of the day so far happened. Penny Thomas, my publisher, came to drag me out of said
queue as I had a line of people wanting their books signed and I really ought
to come! Walking up to see my name on a YACL banner and people waiting with
copies of Tulip Taylor was a very special moment. (My queue was next to Holly
Bourne’s. This could have been terrible but it wasn’t. She was finishing and I
was starting so our queues were the same length. For a bit!)

Signing was lovely. I signed lots of books. I met people I
know from Twitter but not in real life. It was hot so the hand fan came in very
useful. I fanned my ‘fans’. One person fanned me whilst I was signing her book.
I did start to get hysterically giggly at this moment. Waterstones wanted some
copies signed. And then came back for some more. People I have never met turned
up with US copies of ‘Rebel with a Cupcake’ so I was signing my two books. This
was also a first for me.

What made the day also very special was that only recently
Firefly had decided to publish ‘Rebel with a Cupcake’ in the UK and I signed
the contract there and then. It really was a special end to a special day.

The final part of YACL was more personal – my friend Kim who
I did my MA with (during which I wrote Rebel with a Cupcake) arrived and we had
a lovely hour or so chatting, wandering round the stalls and generally catching
up. For that part of the day, I was just there as a fan, and I picked up some
books I’ve wanted for ages but kept putting off. I too ended up with an extra
tote full of books. Maybe next year I’ll have a suitcase.

By the time I was on the train home, I was really feeling
that 4am start. But it was all worth it. I’d love to go again if invited but if
not, I’ll probably go as a fan. The offers, the talks, the price of the books alone,
the lovely people all make it a very special experience. As for workshops,
panels, having a signing queue and my name next to one of the best-selling YA
authors – I think thirteen-year-old me would be very happy if she knew that was
waiting for her, in her future. As long as she was patient and stubborn.

Every now and again, I have conversations with non-writers that make me bite my tongue and put on my best fake smile reserved for people who like to think they know about publishing because they’ve watched ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’. “You write? How lovely to have a hobby like that. I’d write a novel if only I had the time.”

Well…

Let me tell you a bit about my life. Yes, I write, Yes, my
second novel is out in eleven days time. Yes, I procrastinate. Yes, I think I’m
a bit lazy if I’m being honest. But the truth is apart from writing, I have
three other paying jobs (teaching, tutoring and twice a year GCSE exam marking –
next week, all four parts of my life will collide), I run a home and bring up
two children. Should I mention I did a part-time MA while working full time? Yes,
I do look pretty tired most of the time but YES I do find time to write because
I’m a writer. That’s what I do.

Before I go any further, none of this is intended to suggest that anyone is any kind of failure if they’re struggling to write at the moment. There are lots of very good reasons not to write. You’re burned out from juggling life and writing. Your writing makes you sad. You don’t have a project that you love. Work has been rejected and it’s been hard to take. It’s just not what you want to be doing with your time at this precise moment. Other people in your life need you and so something has to give. Your mental or physical health is a barrier to being creative. All these and so many others are totally good reasons to give yourself a break from writing.

But if you do want to write, most people can find some
scraps of time to do some writing even if it’s only a short amount.

If you work, some people write in their lunch-hour. (As a teacher and I’m sure this is true for other professions, the phrase ‘lunch hour’ induces a hollow laugh in me. If only…) Sometimes I don’t come straight home if I can and go to a café for 30 mins to an hour if I can stretch it – get a flat white – whip out the laptop – and crank out a few hundred words).

Some people get up an hour early. Some write in the evening when the house is quiet. Neither are easy options but evenings work better for me. At one point, I set an alarm for 9pm. I trained myself to stop what I was doing, go into the study and write for 30/45 mins. The writing wasn’t always good but I learned long ago that I need to forget about quality and just write. You can always polish bad words. You can’t polish an empty page.

Commuting time can be productive. Some people write bits of chapters on evernote on their phones as they bus/train/tram to work. My drive is between 25/40 minutes either way and I use the time to plan out scenes in my head so that when 9pm comes I’ve got something to write. I might rehearse dialogue out loud, so if you see me on the M56 talking to myself as I drive at 60 mph home, then yes – that is perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Find the times in your house when it’s quiet. Currently my children lie on a bit on the weekend (a change from the two year period when my younger daughter got up at 5am. Every. Single. Day.) so weekend mornings are currently a good time to write for me.

Protect writing time. Commit to a certain time slot, tell people who are likely to need to you that that’s what you’re doing and don’t take no for an answer. One daughter once pushed a note under the study door that said, ‘You don’t love me anymore’. She has survived the experience. Cats might be harder to train than children.

Time is precious. Are there any things that you can get out of? I’ve got very good at saying ‘no’. I try not to do things just because they’re expected of me, only if I want to.

Have a note book on you at all time. If you have a moment, write something.

Little bits of time can count more than a big stretch. I love to go away on writing weekends. But I never write loads. A whole day writing? It’s rather overwhelming for me. I write in fast bursts and then need a break between. If you gave me a whole day to write in, I’d write my usual amount and spend the afternoon asleep. Heaven…

Sometimes my four jobs get a bit much for me. But there are
two big positives.

Firstly, if you can carve out time when you’re busy, you
become incredibly efficient. I can’t spend a whole day faffing because I haven’t
got the luxury. Things get done. All those scraps of writing, all those hundred
words here and there, become a chapter, which become a book.

Secondly and most importantly, everything is research. All
the experiences I have, all the people I met, all become part of the web of my
life that I draw from when I write. And in all honesty while I would like more
time to write in, I need my life to be like this so I have things to write
about.

To conclude, everyone needs a break from writing sometimes.
I’ve never been convinced by advice to write every day. If it works for you, that’s
great, but it can become just another expectation in a busy life. But as and when
you decide to commit to a project, find that time, carve it out, say no and
write because it makes you happy. If you want to write, you deserve to have the
time to do so.

Many years ago, I was lucky enough to be on holiday in Costa Rica and we decided to go white-water rafting. It was a brilliant but long day, with an early start and a late finish. There was some training, a false start, sometimes we had to row frantically, sometimes I fell in, sometimes we were paddling hard against the flow getting nowhere, sometimes we were in a current out of control, sometimes we were drifting along pleasantly taking in the view, sometimes we were stuck going nowhere. It was exciting, incredibly frustrating, occasionally anxiety inducing but ultimately all worth while.

That’s how I feel about my long road to publication.

I’d always wanted to be a writer from a young age. I spent
much of my childhood lost in books and I was drawn to the idea that I could too
do this. It seemed like something close to magic, a process of alchemy – the thoughts
in my head could become marks on paper that other people could read. But I didn’t
know how to do it. There were no writers in the family or in my parents’
friends. No-one from my school had ever been a successful writer. How did girls
from northern comprehensives break into the magical, distant world of books?

So, I kept writing through my teens and into my twenties and
thirties. But I never finished anything. A voice in the back of my head kept stopping
me after I got to around twenty thousand words. I’d stop. Leave it. And then
start something new a while later. It took me a long time to work out what was
going on. What was really stopping me was fear of failure. If I tried and
failed then I would prove conclusively that I was a failure. If I didn’t try,
then I could tell myself I might be successful one day if only I gave it a go.
But there’s only so long I could tell myself that. Then I had children. I didn’t
want to tell them that I’d had a dream but was too scared to chase it. So that’s
when I decided things needed to change.

I still didn’t know another single person who wrote or wanted
to write or had any ambition to write. One day I started to research creative
writing in Manchester and before I really know what had happened, I’d signed up
to do an MA in Writing for Children at MMU. This was one of the two very good
decisions that I made. Submitting my work knowing that someone was going to be
reading it and judging it was terrifying. But I did it and after a nervous few
weeks, I was accepted. When the course started, it soon became clear I had met
my people. My fellow cohort were funny, wise, full of love for books and
writing, enthusiastic about each other’s work and endless encouraging. An early
writing exercise sparked a character that wouldn’t go away so I wrote a NaNoWriMo
novel to explore her story.

Two years and four drafts later, I started submitting ‘Rebel
with a Cupcake’ to agents. To date, my writing experience had not been that
stressful. I enjoyed my writing and I loved spending time on making it as good
as I could. But sending it out to agents was a whole new world of stress. I had
some straight nos which made me sad. I had some requests for full manuscripts
that filled me full of excitement. I felt I was a step closer to where I wanted
to be yet still as far away as ever. After about three months, Anne Clark offered
me representation and when I got the email, I could barely contain my
excitement!

I thought I was there. But I was just a bit further on the way.
My MA finished and then I made my second brilliant decision. I joined SCBWI and
started going to the Manchester meetings. I was so lucky to find yet more
talented, generous writers who all wanted to get each other to write their very
best. I revised ‘Rebel’ a few more times before it went on submission. But it
wasn’t its time in the UK. Looking back, I have mixed feelings about this. On
one hand, I was disappointed that it didn’t sell in the Uk but then perhaps also
wasn’t surprised. The question remained – do girls from northern comprehensives
become writers? Reading though the feedback from the publishers, even though
they were (nice) rejections, I did get a thrill. Editors from all these famous
publishing houses had read my book and mostly liked it. Okay they didn’t love
it but they were saying nice things. I wasn’t perhaps as crushed as you might
expect.

And then something magical happened. Anne took Rebel to Bologna
and three offers were made for it. There was even a bidding war for me in France!
Finally, I got my answer to my question of thirty years. Girls from anywhere
can get their books published. They just need to work hard, be resilient, have
people behind them who believe in them and finally, have that bit of luck that
makes all the difference in the end. Rebel was on her way to Canada and France!

So what next? I was a published author and it felt great. I
wrote another book, a fantasy this time, but again it didn’t find a home in the
UK market despite coming tantalisingly close. The consistent feedback was ‘Brilliant
opening, shame about the second half.’ So, I learned from this. I worked on
plotting. I had an idea for another contemporary book with the comic touch of ‘Rebel’
and two years later, ‘Tulip Taylor’ was ready to go on submission.

I have to say this was the most intense submission so far. I
really wanted to be published in the Uk now. Reviews for Rebel were great, it
was a book I was really proud of but somehow I just had my heart set on a UK deal.
And then one glorious July day, just before I went on holiday, I got the email.
The fabulous Firefly press, which I’d heard of, loved their list, knew people
who wrote for them and who I was desperate to work with, said yes! That, the two
foreign deals, and my initial offer of representation are days that stand out
for me of total, unadulterated happiness.

And so here I am, two weeks off UK publication. Those were
my highs. There have been low points where I’ve wondered whether it was going
to happen and then whether I could sell a second book. But I’ve kept to my
mantra. Just keep writing when you want to. Take a break if you need. Keep
reading. Take a break from reading if you feel like. Read YA, read for adults,
read picture books, read poetry.

Just enjoy yourself. Enjoy
your writing. And see where it all takes you.
fffffffffffff

I first wrote a version of a novel that eventually became ‘Tulip
Taylor’ about five years ago. But it didn’t quite work – the central character wasn’t
strong enough, her wants and needs weren’t clear or convincing and while parts
of it worked, overall it just a bit of a mess. I put it to one side to work on
a totally different novel and came back to it at least a year later.

Many people feel that they feel that they spend too much
time on social media. I’m one of them. But if I didn’t spend time scrolling
through Twitter I wouldn’t have come across the two stories that helped me find
the heart of what became ‘Tulip Taylor’. The first was about a teenager who had
a huge following on Instagram, only to delete her account because she’d come to
hate how superficial it was and what a false impression it gave. The second was
a mum influencer who started a parenting blog, saw this develop into a full
time job where she used her children to promote brands and then realised that
she had to change direction once she saw how her children just didn’t want to
engage with the activities she was being paid to promote.

Articles about ‘sharenting’ (where a parent shares images of
their child online) popped up recently when Gwyneth Paltrow shared a photo of
one of her children on social media without her teenage daughter’s consent. It
might seem a small thing but when someone has such a long social media reach as
Ms Paltrow, then perhaps it’s not unreasonable that a teenager or even a child
might want some say in how their image is shared. When one of my children was a
baby, I dressed her up as a Christmas pudding. I thought it was the cutest
thing ever. But she might not thank me if she’s going for a job in the future
if I ever posted this online. Yet so many parents share images of their
children without too much thought of how this might play out for them in their
later lives.

Even more intriguing/concerning is the growth of the child
influencer. Some children have become online celebrities through their parents’
use of social media – unboxing presents, going on filmed days out, being part
of pranks. Some families can make an apparent fortune presenting the perfectly
curated lives of perfectly cute children. But what happens when those children
aren’t so cute or don’t want to take part anymore. And who gets the money made
out of the performance of those children? I don’t have any answers, rather I
try to explore some of this through the lives of Tulip, her mother and her
siblings. Tulip wants to control the direction of her own life and yet first
her mother, and then the TV show she gets involved in (ironically to escape her
mother’s plans for global domination), try to manipulate how the world sees
her.

Finally, so many of us now live part of our lives online.
Young people have never known life before the internet. They see how vloggers/influencers
make money. They get involved in the soap opera that is the conflict between
these names (see the recent spat between Tati and James Charles – shame on you
if you need to google their names). They know that some people who start out
with a laptop and internet connection end up with apparent fame, fortune and
invitations to the Met Gala, where they rub shoulders with the fashionable and
glamorous. It’s a heady mix. On a much more mundane level, those of us who do
use social media are having our personal data mined, sold and used for political
influence which isn’t always apparent. The online world is truly a brave new
world, the implications of which we are only just beginning to understand.

So what is the answer? Unplug and delete? Possibly but it seems
unlikely that all of us are willing to do so. There are many positives as well
as negatives to engaging online. The current and very welcome wave of
environmental awareness, driven by young people, could only happen in this connected
era. As to the future, I’ll look to my own children, and the children I teach, to
see how they navigate it. As in many things, I have much to learn from them.

It’s three years since my first novel, ‘Rebel with a Cupcake’,
was published and my new book, ‘Tulip Taylor’ is out in three weeks. So what
have I learned about writing in this time….

Writing is not something you do alone

Well, it is. The rather well-worn seat of my chair in the
study is evidence of that. But before you can even think about putting your
work out into the world, you need feedback. You need to find your book people.
I have been so fortunate in this respect, firstly with my cohort on my Creative
Writing MA and secondly with the north west SCBWI group based in Manchester. Not
everyone has a wonderful experience of being part of a critique group but when it
works, it’s unbeatable. You get feedback on what works for other readers and
what doesn’t. Sometimes you need to make an adjustment; sometimes you don’t.
But you have a sounding board for your ideas and when your words on the page
make other people happy or sad, you know you’re on the right path.

So, find your book people and when you do, don’t let them go…

You might be able to craft a perfect sentence
but can you plot?

I am a pantser by nature. In case that means nothing to you,
I’m addicted to the magic of not knowing what’s going to happen in a story and
just finding out as I go along. The problem with being a pantser is that until
recently, I got a fair amount of feedback such as ‘Great start, shame about the
second half.’ When more than a few people say it, you have to take it seriously
(see point 1). So, I have learned my craft by going to plotting workshops. For
me a SCBWI session with Alexandra Sokoloff was a turning point. Encouraging us
to watch movies in a similar genre and see how they plotted the mid points and
climax was incredibly helpful. I watched ‘Legally Blonde’ and suddenly my second
half made a lot more sense…

You can plot but can you write a perfect
sentence?

A lot of writing advice is all about the plot. But you can
read all the plotting books in the world and at the end of it, all you’ve
achieved is an understanding of a well-constructed plot. But that doesn’t mean you can write. Or create
the all important and ever illusive voice of your character. Nothing beats
reading. More reading. And then a bit more reading after that.

You can’t change your true writing nature…

This is something I’ve realised recently. I am a pantser.
Nothing can change that. I have learned the importance of plot but I can’t plan
without writing it first. This is a pain because it means it takes me a long
time to get anywhere. I can have the roughest of rough outlines but until I’ve
written that incredibly bad first draft, I don’t have themes, the heart of my
character’s emotional journey and certainly not the voice. This might explain
the three-year gap between my first and second book being published! But at
least, now I know.

Write what makes your heart sing

There’s a lot of talk about YA being a crowded or slow market
at the moment (it is). So, is it a good professional move to move to the middle
grade market where there seems to be more interest? Well, it certainly seems to
make sense. Except that lots of other writers are doing the same thing, the market
may well shift back again in a year or two and most importantly, do you want to
write what you love or what you think will sell? Writing can be such a tough
game, it seems strange to me to spend your time writing something which isn’t
your first passion.

What is success?

This is the hardest thing to get my head round. If you’d have
told ten-year-old me, that I’d have two books published in three different
countries, I’d have been ecstatic. Or I would have been if I could spell it.
And I am very, very proud of my achievement. But I think ten-year-old me would
be surprised to learn that I have three other paying jobs apart from writing
and that not many of my writing friends make their living solely from selling
books. In my head, I’m still not that successful because my job as a teacher is
my main source of income. However, given point 5, I’ve learned to see this as a
positive. As I’m not dependent on writing for my living, I can write what I
love.

Aiming for publication is a very tough business. It’s a
combination of talent, hard-work and luck and only one of those things is something
I can influence. Having a novel on submission with agents was one of the most
intense experiences I’ve had. Having novels on submission with publishers then
took that to a different level. It’s all beyond my control (which I hate) and
it’s all so incredibly personal. What I’ve learned in the last few years is
this. I’m a lot happier if my ideas of success are things I can realistically
achieve. So currently targets for success have been…

aim to improve my craft,

read more novels/watch films/shows in my genre
(yay!)

finish that project that’s been living in my
head all these years,

then re-work it so that it shines and lives up
to what I’ve always wanted to create.

Currently I’m very successfully working on point 2. All of
this makes me feel much happier and in control than having ‘Publish book 3 next
year’. I’d like that to happen of course. But I think it’s much more likely to
happen if I follow my success criteria first.